Computer Classes

The last couple days I shadowed Kyle at Saint Andrew's Primary School while he taught computer classes to Standard 4 & 5 students (Belize's equivalent of 5th and 6th grade). It was a pretty enlightening experience, and I had a little fun with some of the kids. For the most part, they have adapted well to the technology even though computers are nowhere near as available to Belizean children as they are to Americans. A few of the more savvy (and mischievous) students "secretly" goof off on hi5.com or youtube.com while they're supposed to do their work. Of course, they don't know that the tricks they think they're getting away with are the same that I tried when I was a kid.

So I'm sort of optimistic about the level of computer skills the children have here, but there still is a huge gap to overcome if they are to start using the machines in a really meaningful way. A large proportion of the Standard 4 students don't grasp the concepts of a "web site" or "web page" and they have great difficulty processing the vast amount of information presented on the internet. For example, I saw a number of students typing search terms into the first text field they saw, regardless of whether it was a search field or not. And it is impossible to explain why sometimes a website takes a long time to respond. It is just magic to them!

Regardless of the difficulties, it is great to see these kids get a chance to use computers and the internet. Used properly, a computer is a gateway to a vast wealth of information. It exposes people to knowledge and opportunities that we in the First World take for granted, but previously were not accessible to people here. And even the social networking sites have their value, even though snotty elitist American ivory tower dwellers like this dork can't see it. The Belizean boys and girls using Hi5 or Myspace are unwittingly plugging themselves into the global human social and economic network in a novel way. They are truly digital pioneers.